Double shooting and a treble stabbing: Happy New Year!

05 Jan 2006

Hackney Gazette

New Year’s Eve is, for most of us, a time for celebrating the year gone and the one to come. Sadly, here in Hackney we got off to the worst possible start. No sooner had the celebrations begun before we had reports of stabbings and gang-land shootings. Yet another young man tragically lost his life. For years stories have been circulating about young men not feeling properly ‘dressed’ for a night out without a weapon. New Year’s Eve was a clear reminder that we still have work to do to challenge this misconception.

On a night of partying our emergency services reported 38 separate knife incidents, a record high. The bloodiest incident occurred here in Hackney. Three Turkish men were attacked while out and about. One is still critically ill in hospital with stab wounds to the chest.  As if that wasn’t enough we had yet another shooting in Clapton. On a street packed with partygoers, two gunmen opened fire with automatic weapons. A demonstration of complete contempt for human life. Anyone of the people present that night could have been killed or injured. The two victims, both black teenagers, were shot as they sat in their car opposite the Palace Pavilion nightclub. One died in hospital while the other is in a critical condition. The worst possible start to the new year.

Gun crime in Hackney is not new. Back in 2001 the borough of Hackney earned the dubious distinction of being the place where you are more likely to hear the sound of gunshots that anywhere else in Britain. And shootings have been particularly ruthless here. Numerous gangland-style executions in the area surrounding Lower and Upper Clapton Roads have earned it the tag Murder Mile. Once again it has lived up to that terrifying reputation.

As an MP I have campaigned successfully for longer sentences for carrying a gun and a ban on imitation weapons. However, to a greater degree than in almost any other category of serious crime, the community has a role to play in the fight against gun crime. It is all too easy to understand what these people are capable of. No one wants to risk crossing them. However, it is not normally a secret who commits these shootings. Dozens of people were present on Lower Clapton Street as the Pavilion closed, and someone must know where that gun came from. The challenge is getting people to go into court as witnesses.

However, equally important is tackling the underlying issues – the causes of gun crime and disaffected youth. It remains a disheartening fact that more than 80 per cent of gun crime in London is "black on black", more often than not perpetrated by boys in their teens. For me, as a black woman and the mother of a son this is terrifying. A persistent problem is the continuing educational underachievement of black boys. I am not claiming that every child who underachieves at school becomes involved in firearms, but there is a direct link between criminality, whatever one's colour, and underachievement.

Gun crime affects the whole community. Therefore the onus is on all of us to pull together and do whatever we can to tackle this problem at its root. The owner of the Pavilion has temporarily closed the club and police are seeking a review of its licence under the new Licencing Act. I will encourage all residents to make their views on this matter known and make sure that the debate on how to tackle this problem in our local community is opened up.

 



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